DESCRIPTION

Wireshark is a GUI network protocol analyzer. It lets you
interactively browse packet data from a live network or from a
previously saved capture file. Wireshark's native capture file format
is libpcap format, which is also the format used by tcpdump and
various other tools.

Wireshark can read / import the following file formats:

* libpcap, tcpdump and various other tools using tcpdump's capture format

* the output in IPLog format from the Cisco Secure Intrusion Detection System

* pppd logs (pppdump format)

* the output from VMS's TCPIPtrace/TCPtrace/UCX$TRACE utilities

* the text output from the DBS EtherwatchVMS utility

* Visual Networks' Visual UpTime traffic capture

* the output from CoSine L2 debug

* the output from Accellent's 5ViewsLAN agents

* Endace Measurement Systems' ERF format captures

* Linux Bluez Bluetooth stack hcidump -w traces

* Catapult DCT2000 .out files

There is no need to tell Wireshark what type of
file you are reading; it will determine the file type by itself.
Wireshark is also capable of reading any of these file formats if they
are compressed using gzip. Wireshark recognizes this directly from
the file; the '.gz' extension is not required for this purpose.

Like other protocol analyzers, Wireshark's main window shows 3 views
of a packet. It shows a summary line, briefly describing what the
packet is. A packet details display is shown, allowing you to drill
down to exact protocol or field that you interested in. Finally, a hex
dump shows you exactly what the packet looks like when it goes over the
wire.

In addition, Wireshark has some features that make it unique. It can
assemble all the packets in a TCP conversation and show you the ASCII
(or EBCDIC, or hex) data in that conversation. Display filters in
Wireshark are very powerful; more fields are filterable in Wireshark
than in other protocol analyzers, and the syntax you can use to create
your filters is richer. As Wireshark progresses, expect more and more
protocol fields to be allowed in display filters.

Packet capturing is performed with the pcap library. The capture filter
syntax follows the rules of the pcap library. This syntax is different
from the display filter syntax.

Compressed file support uses (and therefore requires) the zlib library.
If the zlib library is not present, Wireshark will compile, but will
be unable to read compressed files.

The pathname of a capture file to be read can be specified with the
-r option or can be specified as a command-line argument.

OPTIONS

Most users will want to start Wireshark without options and configure
it from the menus instead. Those users may just skip this section.

-a <capture autostop condition>

Specify a criterion that specifies when Wireshark is to stop writing
to a capture file. The criterion is of the form test:value,
where test is one of:

duration:value Stop writing to a capture file after value seconds have elapsed.

filesize:value Stop writing to a capture file after it reaches a size of value
kilobytes (where a kilobyte is 1024 bytes). If this option
is used together with the -b option, Wireshark will stop writing to the
current capture file and switch to the next one if filesize is reached.

files:value Stop writing to capture files after value number of files were written.

-b <capture ring buffer option>

Cause Wireshark to run in ``multiple files'' mode. In ``multiple files'' mode,
Wireshark will write to several capture files. When the first capture file
fills up, Wireshark will switch writing to the next file and so on.

The created filenames are based on the filename given with the -w flag, the number of
the file and on the creation date and time,
e.g. outfile_00001_20050604120117.pcap, outfile_00001_20050604120523.pcap, ...

With the files option it's also possible to form a ``ring buffer''.
This will fill up new files until the number of files specified,
at which point Wireshark will discard the data in the first file and start
writing to that file and so on. If the files option is not set,
new files filled up until one of the capture stop conditions match (or
until the disk if full).

The criterion is of the form key:value,
where key is one of:

duration:value switch to the next file after value seconds have
elapsed, even if the current file is not completely filled up.

filesize:value switch to the next file after it reaches a size of
value kilobytes (where a kilobyte is 1024 bytes).

files:value begin again with the first file after value number of
files were written (form a ring buffer).

-B <capture buffer size (Win32 only)>

Win32 only: set capture buffer size (in MB, default is 1MB). This is used by the
the capture driver to buffer packet data until that data can be written to
disk. If you encounter packet drops while capturing, try to increase this size.

-c <capture packet count>

Set the maximum number of packets to read when capturing live
data.

-D

Print a list of the interfaces on which Wireshark can capture, and
exit. For each network interface, a number and an
interface name, possibly followed by a text description of the
interface, is printed. The interface name or the number can be supplied
to the -i flag to specify an interface on which to capture.

This can be useful on systems that don't have a command to list them
(e.g., Windows systems, or UNIX systems lacking ifconfig -a);
the number can be useful on Windows 2000 and later systems, where the
interface name is a somewhat complex string.

Note that ``can capture'' means that Wireshark was able to open
that device to do a live capture; if, on your system, a program doing a
network capture must be run from an account with special privileges (for
example, as root), then, if Wireshark is run with the -D flag and
is not run from such an account, it will not list any interfaces.

--display=<X display to use>

Specifies the X display to use. A hostname and screen (otherhost:0.0)
or just a screen (:0.0) can be specified. This option is not available
under Windows.

-f <capture filter>

Set the capture filter expression.

-g <packet number>

After reading in a capture file using the -r flag, go to the given packet number.

-h

Print the version and options and exit.

-H

Hide the capture info dialog during live packet capture.

-i <capture interface>|-

Set the name of the network interface or pipe to use for live packet
capture.

Network interface names should match one of the names listed in
"wireshark -D`` (described above); a number, as reported by
''wireshark -D``, can also be used. If you're using UNIX, ''netstat
-i`` or ''ifconfig -a" might also work to list interface names,
although not all versions of UNIX support the -a flag to ifconfig.

If no interface is specified, Wireshark searches the list of
interfaces, choosing the first non-loopback interface if there are any
non-loopback interfaces, and choosing the first loopback interface if
there are no non-loopback interfaces. If there are no interfaces at all,
Wireshark reports an error and doesn't start the capture.

Pipe names should be either the name of a FIFO (named pipe) or ``-'' to
read data from the standard input. Data read from pipes must be in
standard libpcap format.

Note: the Win32 version of Wireshark doesn't support capturing from
pipes or stdin!

-k

Start the capture session immediately. If the -i flag was
specified, the capture uses the specified interface. Otherwise,
Wireshark searches the list of interfaces, choosing the first
non-loopback interface if there are any non-loopback interfaces, and
choosing the first loopback interface if there are no non-loopback
interfaces; if there are no interfaces, Wireshark reports an error and
doesn't start the capture.

-l

Turn on automatic scrolling if the packet display is being updated
automatically as packets arrive during a capture (as specified by the
-S flag).

-L

List the data link types supported by the interface and exit.

-m <font>

Set the name of the font used by Wireshark for most text. Wireshark
will construct the name of the bold font used for the data in the byte
view pane that corresponds to the field selected in the packet details
pane from the name of the main text font.

Turn on name resolving only for particular types of addresses and port
numbers, with name resolving for other types of addresses and port
numbers turned off. This flag overrides -n if both -N and -n are
present. If both -N and -n flags are not present, all name resolutions are
turned on.

The argument is a string that may contain the letters:

m to enable MAC address resolution

n to enable network address resolution

t to enable transport-layer port number resolution

C to enable concurrent (asynchronous) DNS lookups

-o <preference/recent setting>

Set a preference or recent value, overriding the default value and any value
read from a preference/recent file. The argument to the flag is a string of
the form prefname:value, where prefname is the name of the
preference/recent value (which is the same name that would appear in the
preference/recent file), and value is the value to which it should be set.
Since Wireshark 0.10.12, the recent settings replaces the formerly used
-B, -P and -T flags to manipulate the GUI dimensions.

-p

Don't put the interface into promiscuous mode. Note that the
interface might be in promiscuous mode for some other reason; hence,
-p cannot be used to ensure that the only traffic that is captured is
traffic sent to or from the machine on which Wireshark is running,
broadcast traffic, and multicast traffic to addresses received by that
machine.

-Q

Cause Wireshark to exit after the end of capture session (useful in
batch mode with -c option for instance); this option requires the
-i and -w parameters.

-r <infile>

Read packet data from infile, can be any supported capture file format
(including gzipped files). It's not possible to use named pipes or stdin
here!

-R <read (display) filter>

When reading a capture file specified with the -r flag, causes the
specified filter (which uses the syntax of display filters, rather than
that of capture filters) to be applied to all packets read from the
capture file; packets not matching the filter are discarded.

-S

Automatically update the packet display as packets are coming in.

-s <capture snaplen>

Set the default snapshot length to use when capturing live data.
No more than snaplen bytes of each network packet will be read into
memory, or saved to disk.

-t ad|a|r|d|e

Set the format of the packet timestamp displayed in the packet list
window, the default is relative. The format can be one of:

ad absolute with date: The absolute date and time is the actual time and
date the packet was captured

a absolute: The absolute time is the actual time the packet was captured,
with no date displayed

r relative: The relative time is the time elapsed between the first packet
and the current packet

d delta: The delta time is the time since the previous packet was
captured

e epoch: The time in seconds since epoch (Jan 1, 1970 00:00:00)

-v

Print the version and exit.

-w <outfile>

Set the default capture file name.

-y <capture link type>

If a capture is started from the command line with -k, set the data
link type to use while capturing packets. The values reported by -L
are the values that can be used.

-X <eXtension options>

Specify an option to be passed to an Wireshark module. The eXtension option
is in the form extension_key:value, where extension_key can be:

lua_script:lua_script_filename tells Wireshark to load the given script in addition to the
default Lua scripts.

-z <statistics>

Get Wireshark to collect various types of statistics and display the result
in a window that updates in semi-real time.
Currently implemented statistics are:

-z dcerpc,srt,uuid,major.minor[,filter]

Collect call/reply SRT (Service Response Time) data for DCERPC interface uuid,
version major.minor.
Data collected is number of calls for each procedure, MinSRT, MaxSRT
and AvgSRT.
Example: use -z dcerpc,srt,12345778-1234-abcd-ef00-0123456789ac,1.0 to collect data for CIFSSAMR Interface.
This option can be used multiple times on the command line.

If the optional filterstring is provided, the stats will only be calculated
on those calls that match that filter.
Example: use -z dcerpc,srt,12345778-1234-abcd-ef00-0123456789ac,1.0,ip.addr==1.2.3.4 to collect SAMRSRT statistics for a specific host.

-z io,stat

Collect packet/bytes statistics for the capture in intervals of 1 seconds.
This option will open a window with up to 5 color-coded graphs where
number-of-packets-per-second or number-of-bytes-per-second statistics
can be calculated and displayed.

This option can be used multiple times on the command line.

This graph window can also be opened from the Analyze:Statistics:Traffic:IO-Stat
menu item.

-z rpc,srt,program,version[,<filter>]

Collect call/reply SRT (Service Response Time) data for program/version. Data collected
is number of calls for each procedure, MinSRT, MaxSRT and AvgSRT.
Example: use -z rpc,srt,100003,3 to collect data for NFS v3. This
option can be used multiple times on the command line.

If the optional filter string is provided, the stats will only be calculated
on those calls that match that filter.
Example: use -z rpc,srt,100003,3,nfs.fh.hash==0x12345678 to collect NFS v3
SRT statistics for a specific file.

-z rpc,programs

Collect call/reply RTT data for all known ONC-RPC programs/versions.
Data collected is number of calls for each protocol/version, MinRTT,
MaxRTT and AvgRTT.

Data collected
is number of calls for each procedure, MinSRT, MaxSRT and AvgSRT.
Example: use -z scsi,srt,0 to collect data for SCSIBLOCKCOMMANDS (SBC). This
option can be used multiple times on the command line.

If the optional filter string is provided, the stats will only be calculated
on those calls that match that filter.
Example: use -z scsi,srt,0,ip.addr==1.2.3.4 to collect SCSISBCSRT statistics for a specific iscsi/ifcp/fcip host.

The data will be presented as separate tables for all normal SMB commands,
all Transaction2 commands and all NT Transaction commands.
Only those commands that are seen in the capture will have its stats
displayed.
Only the first command in a xAndX command chain will be used in the
calculation. So for common SessionSetupAndX + TreeConnectAndX chains,
only the SessionSetupAndX call will be used in the statistics.
This is a flaw that might be fixed in the future.

This option can be used multiple times on the command line.

If the optional filterstring is provided, the stats will only be calculated
on those calls that match that filter.
Example: use -z ``smb,srt,ip.addr==1.2.3.4'' to only collect stats for
SMB packets echanged by the host at IP address 1.2.3.4 .

-z fc,srt[,filter]

Collect call/reply SRT (Service Response Time) data for FC. Data collected
is number of calls for each Fibre Channel command, MinSRT, MaxSRT and AvgSRT.
Example: use -z fc,srt.
The Service Response Time is calculated as the time delta between the
First packet of the exchange and the Last packet of the exchange.

The data will be presented as separate tables for all normal FC commands,
Only those commands that are seen in the capture will have its stats
displayed.

This option can be used multiple times on the command line.

If the optional filterstring is provided, the stats will only be calculated
on those calls that match that filter.
Example: use -z ``fc,srt,fc.id==01.02.03'' to only collect stats for
FC packets echanged by the host at FC address 01.02.03 .

-z ldap,srt[,filter]

Collect call/reply SRT (Service Response Time) data for LDAP. Data collected
is number of calls for each implemented LDAP command, MinSRT, MaxSRT and AvgSRT.
Example: use -z ldap,srt.
The Service Response Time is calculated as the time delta between the
Request and the Response.

The data will be presented as separate tables for all implemented LDAP commands,
Only those commands that are seen in the capture will have its stats
displayed.

This option can be used multiple times on the command line.

If the optional filterstring is provided, the stats will only be calculated
on those calls that match that filter.
Example: use -z ``ldap,srt,ip.addr==10.1.1.1'' to only collect stats for
LDAP packets echanged by the host at IP address 10.1.1.1 .

The only LDAP command that are currently implemented and the stats will be available for are:
BINDSEARCHMODIFYADDDELETEMODRDNCOMPAREEXTENDED

-z mgcp,srt[,filter]

Collect requests/response SRT (Service Response Time) data for MGCP.
This is similar to -z smb,srt). Data collected is number of calls
for each known MGCP Type, Minimum SRT, Maximum SRT and Average SRT.
Example: use -z mgcp,srt.

This option can be used multiple times on the command line.

If the optional filterstring is provided, the stats will only be calculated
on those calls that match that filter.
Example: use -z ``mgcp,srt,ip.addr==1.2.3.4'' to only collect stats for
MGCP packets exchanged by the host at IP address 1.2.3.4 .

-z conv,type[,filter]

Create a table that lists all conversations that could be seen in the
capture. type specifies for which type of conversation we want to
generate the statistics; currently the supported ones are

If the optional filter string is specified, only those packets that match the
filter will be used in the calculations.

The table is presented with one line for each conversation and displays
number of packets/bytes in each direction as well as total number of
packets/bytes. By default, the table is sorted according to total number
of packets.

These tables can also be generated at runtime by selecting the appropriate
conversation type from the menu ``Tools/Statistics/Conversation List/''.

-z h225,counter[,filter]

Count ITU-T H.225 messages and their reasons. In the first column you get a
list of H.225 messages and H.225 message reasons, which occur in the current
capture file. The number of occurences of each message or reason is displayed
in the second column.

Example: use -z h225,counter.

This option can be used multiple times on the command line.

If the optional filterstring is provided, the stats will only be calculated
on those calls that match that filter.
Example: use -z ``h225,counter,ip.addr==1.2.3.4'' to only collect stats for
H.225 packets exchanged by the host at IP address 1.2.3.4 .

-z h225,srt[,filter]

Collect requests/response SRT (Service Response Time) data for ITU-T H.225 RAS.
Data collected is number of calls of each ITU-T H.225 RAS Message Type,
Minimum SRT, Maximum SRT, Average SRT, Minimum in Packet, and Maximum in Packet.
You will also get the number of Open Requests (Unresponded Requests),
Discarded Responses (Responses without matching request) and Duplicate Messages.
Example: use -z h225,srt.

This option can be used multiple times on the command line.

If the optional filterstring is provided, the stats will only be calculated
on those calls that match that filter.
Example: use -z ``h225,srt,ip.addr==1.2.3.4'' to only collect stats for
ITU-T H.225 RAS packets exchanged by the host at IP address 1.2.3.4 .

-z sip,stat[,filter]

This option will activate a counter for SIP messages. You will get the number
of occurences of each SIP Method and of each SIP Status-Code. Additionally you
also get the number of resent SIP Messages (only for SIP over UDP).

Example: use -z sip,stat.

This option can be used multiple times on the command line.

If the optional filter string is provided, the stats will only be calculated
on those calls that match that filter.
Example: use -z ``sip,stat,ip.addr==1.2.3.4'' to only collect stats for
SIP packets exchanged by the host at IP address 1.2.3.4 .

INTERFACE

MENUITEMS

File:Open

File:Open Recent

File:Close

Open or close a capture file. The File:Open dialog box
allows a filter to be specified; when the capture file is read, the
filter is applied to all packets read from the file, and packets not
matching the filter are discarded. The File:Open Recent is a submenu
and will show a list of previously opened files.

File:Merge

Merge another capture file to the currently loaded one. The File:Merge
dialog box allows the merge ``Prepended'', ``Chronologically'' or ``Appended'',
relative to the already loaded one.

File:Save

File:Save As

Save the current capture, or the packets currently displayed from that
capture, to a file. Check boxes let you select whether to save all
packets, or just those that have passed the current display filter and/or
those that are currently marked, and an option menu lets you select (from
a list of file formats in which at particular capture, or the packets
currently displayed from that capture, can be saved), a file format in
which to save it.

File:File Set:List Files

Show a dialog box that list all files of the file set matching the currently
loaded file. A file set is a compound of files resulting from a capture using
the ``multiple files'' / ``ringbuffer'' mode, recognizable by the filename pattern,
e.g.: Filename_00001_20050604101530.pcap.

File:File Set:Next File

File:File Set:Previous File

If the currently loaded file is part of a file set (see above), open the
next / previous file in that set.

File:Export

Export captured data into an external format. Note: the data cannot be
imported back into Wireshark, so be sure to keep the capture file.

File:Print

Print packet data from the current capture. You can select the range of
packets to be printed (which packets are printed), and the output format of
each packet (how each packet is printed). The output format will be similar
to the displayed values, so a summary line, the packet details view, and/or
the hex dump of the packet can be printed.

Printing options can be set with the Edit:Preferences menu item, or in the
dialog box popped up by this menu item.

File:Quit

Exit the application.

Edit:Find Packet

Search forward or backward, starting with the currently selected packet
(or the most recently selected packet, if no packet is selected). Search
criteria can be a display filter expression, a string of hexadecimal
digits, or a text string.

When searching for a text string, you can search the packet data, or you
can search the text in the Info column in the packet list pane or in the
packet details pane.

Hexadecimal digits can be separated by colons, periods, or dashes.
Text string searches can be ASCII or Unicode (or both), and may be
case insensitive.

Edit:Find Next

Edit:Find Previous

Search forward / backward for a packet matching the filter from the previous
search, starting with the currently selected packet (or the most recently
selected packet, if no packet is selected).

Edit:Time Reference:Set Time Reference (toggle)

Set (or unset if currently set) the selected packet as a Time Reference packet.
When a packet is set as a Time Reference packet, the timestamps in the packet
list pane will be replaced with the string ``*REF*''.
The relative time timestamp in later packets will then be calculated relative
to the timestamp of this Time Reference packet and not the first packet in
the capture.

Packets that have been selected as Time Reference packets will always be
displayed in the packet list pane. Display filters will not affect or
hide these packets.

If there is a column displayed for ``Culmulative Bytes'' this counter will
be reset at every Time Reference packet.

Edit:Time Reference:Find Next

Edit:Time Reference:Find Previous

Search forward / backward for a time referenced packet.

Edit:Mark Packet (toggle)

Mark (or unmark if currently marked) the selected packet. The field
``frame.marked'' is set for packets that are marked, so that, for example,
a display filters can be used to display only marked packets, and so that
the Edit:Find Packet dialog can be used to find the next or previous
marked packet.

Set the format of the packet timestamp displayed in the packet list window.

View:Name Resolution:Resolve Name

Try to resolve a name for the currently seleted item.

View:Name Resolution:Enable for ... Layer

Enable or disable translation of addresses to names in the display.

View:Colorize Packet List

Enable or disable the coloring rules. Disabling will improve performance.

View:Auto Scroll in Live Capture

Enable or disable the automatic scrolling of the
packet list while a live capture is in progress.

View:Zoom In

View:Zoom Out

Zoom into / out of the main window data (by changing the font size).

View:Normal Size

Reset the zoom factor of zoom in / zoom out back to normal font size.

View:Resize All Columns

Resize all columns to best fit the current packet display.

View:Expand Subtrees

Expands the currently selected item and it's subtrees in the packet details.

View:Expand All

View:Collapse All

Expand / Collapse all branches of the packet details.

View:Coloring Rules

Change the foreground and background colors of the packet information in
the list of packets, based upon display filters. The list of display
filters is applied to each packet sequentially. After the first display
filter matches a packet, any additional display filters in the list are
ignored. Therefore, if you are filtering on the existence of protocols,
you should list the higher-level protocols first, and the lower-level
protocols last.

How Colorization Works

Packets are colored according to a list of color filters. Each filter
consists of a name, a filter expression and a coloration. A packet is
colored according to the first filter that it matches. Color filter
expressions use exactly the same syntax as display filter expressions.

When Wireshark starts, the color filters are loaded from:

1. The user's personal color filters file or, if that does not exist,

2. The global color filters file.

If neither of these exist then the packets will not be colored.

View:Show Packet In New Window

Create a new window containing a packet details view and a hex dump
window of the currently selected packet; this window will continue to
display that packet's details and data even if another packet is
selected.

View:Reload

Reload a capture file. Same as File:Close and File:Open the same
file again.

Go:Back

Go back in previously visited packets history.

Go:Forward

Go forward in previously visited packets history.

Go:Go To Packet

Go to a particular numbered packet.

Go:Go To Corresponding Packet

If a field in the packet details pane containing a packet number is
selected, go to the packet number specified by that field. (This works
only if the dissector that put that entry into the packet details put it
into the details as a filterable field rather than just as text.) This
can be used, for example, to go to the packet for the request
corresponding to a reply, or the reply corresponding to a request, if
that packet number has been put into the packet details.

Go:First Packet

Go:Last Packet

Go to the first / last packet in the capture.

Capture:Interfaces

Shows a dialog box with all currently known interfaces and displaying the
current network traffic amount. Capture sessions can be started from here.
Beware: keeping this box open results in high system load!

Capture:Options

Initiate a live packet capture (see Capture Options
dialog below). If no filename is specified, a temporary file will be created
to hold the capture. The location of the file can be chosen by setting your
TMPDIR environment variable before starting Wireshark. Otherwise, the
default TMPDIR location is system-dependent, but is likely either /var/tmp
or /tmp.

Capture:Start

Start a live packet capture with the previously seleted options. This won't
open the options dialog box, and can be convenient for repeatingly capturing
with the same options.

Capture:Stop

Stop a running live capture.

Capture:Restart

While a live capture is running, stop it and restart with the same options
again. This can be convenient to remove unrelevant packets, if no valuable
packets were captured so far.

Capture:Capture Filters

Edit the saved list of capture filters, allowing filters to be added,
changed, or deleted.

Analyze:Display Filters

Edit the saved list of display filters, allowing filters to be added,
changed, or deleted.

Analyze:Apply as Filter

Create a display filter, or add to the display filter strip at the
bottom, a display filter based on the data currently highlighted in the
packe details, and apply the filter.

If that data is a field that can be tested in a display filter
expression, the display filter will test that field; otherwise, the
display filter will be based on absolute offset within the packet, and
so could be unreliable if the packet contains protocols with
variable-length headers, such as a source-routed token-ring packet.

The Selected option creates a display filter that tests for a match
of the data; the Not Selected option creates a display filter that
tests for a non-match of the data. The And Selected, Or Selected,
And Not Selected, and Or Not Selected options add to the end of
the display filter in the strip at the bottom an AND or OR operator
followed by the new display filter expression.

Analyze:Prepare a Filter

Create a display filter, or add to the display filter strip at the
bottom, a display filter based on the data currently highlighted in the
packet details, but don't apply the filter.

Analyze:Enabled Protocols

Allow protocol dissection to be enabled or disabled for a specific
protocol. Individual protocols can be enabled or disabled by clicking
on them in the list or by highlighting them and pressing the space bar.
The entire list can be enabled, disabled, or inverted using the buttons
below the list.

When a protocol is disabled, dissection in a particular packet stops
when that protocol is reached, and Wireshark moves on to the next packet.
Any higher-layer protocols that would otherwise have been processed will
not be displayed. For example, disabling TCP will prevent the dissection
and display of TCP, HTTP, SMTP, Telnet, and any other protocol exclusively
dependent on TCP.

The list of protocols can be saved, so that Wireshark will start up with
the protocols in that list disabled.

Analyze:Decode As

If you have a packet selected, present a dialog allowing you to change
which dissectors are used to decode this packet. The dialog has one
panel each for the link layer, network layer and transport layer
protocol/port numbers, and will allow each of these to be changed
independently. For example, if the selected packet is a TCP packet to
port 12345, using this dialog you can instruct Wireshark to decode all
packets to or from that TCP port as HTTP packets.

Analyze:User Specified Decodes

Create a new window showing whether any protocol ID to dissector
mappings have been changed by the user. This window also allows the
user to reset all decodes to their default values.

Analyze:Follow TCP Stream

If you have a TCP packet selected, display the contents of the data
stream for the TCP connection to which that packet belongs, as text, in
a separate window, and leave the list of packets in a filtered state,
with only those packets that are part of that TCP connection being
displayed. You can revert to your old view by pressing ENTER in the
display filter text box, thereby invoking your old display filter (or
resetting it back to no display filter).

The window in which the data stream is displayed lets you select:

*

whether to display the entire conversation, or one or the other side of
it;

*

whether the data being displayed is to be treated as ASCII or EBCDIC
text or as raw hex data;

and lets you print what's currently being displayed, using the same
print options that are used for the File:Print Packet menu item, or
save it as text to a file.

Statistics:Summary

Show summary information about the capture, including elapsed time,
packet counts, byte counts, and the like. If a display filter is in
effect, summary information will be shown about the capture and about
the packets currently being displayed.

Statistics:Protocol Hierarchy

Show the number of packets, and the number of bytes in those packets,
for each protocol in the trace. It organizes the protocols in the same
hierarchy in which they were found in the trace. Besides counting the
packets in which the protocol exists, a count is also made for packets
in which the protocol is the last protocol in the stack. These
last-protocol counts show you how many packets (and the byte count
associated with those packets) ended in a particular protocol. In
the table, they are listed under ``End Packets'' and ``End Bytes''.

Statistics:IO Graphs

Open a window where up to 5 graphs in different colors can be displayed
to indicate number of packets or number of bytes per second for all packets
matching the specified filter.
By default only one graph will be displayed showing number of packets per second.

The top part of the window contains the graphs and scales for the X and
Y axis. If the graph is too long to fit inside the window there is a
horizontal scrollbar below the drawing area that can scroll the graphs
to the left or the right. The horizontal axis displays the time into
the capture and the vertical axis will display the measured quantity at
that time.

Below the drawing area and the scrollbar are the controls. On the
bottom left there will be five similar sets of controls to control each
induvidual graph such as ``Display:<button>'' which button will toggle
that individual graph on/off. If <button> is ticked, the graph will be
displayed. ``Color:<color>'' which is just a button to show which color
will be used to draw that graph (color is only available in Gtk2
version) and finally ``Filter:<filter-text>'' which can be used to specify
a display filter for that particular graph.

If filter-text is empty then all packets will be used to calculate the
quantity for that graph. If filter-text is specified only those packets
that match that display filter will be considered in the calculation of
quantity.

To the right of the 5 graph controls there are four menus to control
global aspects of the draw area and graphs. The ``Unit:'' menu is used to
control what to measure; ``packets/tick'', ``bytes/tick'' or ``advanced...''

packets/tick will measure the number of packets matching the (if
specified) display filter for the graph in each measurement interval.

bytes/tick will measure the total number of bytes in all packets matching
the (if specified) display filter for the graph in each measurement
interval.

advanced... see below

``Tick interval:'' specifies what measurement intervals to use. The
default is 1 second and means that the data will be counted over 1
second intervals.

``Pixels per tick:'' specifies how many pixels wide each measurement
interval will be in the drawing area. The default is 5 pixels per tick.

``Y-scale:'' controls the max value for the y-axis. Default value is
``auto'' which means that Wireshark will try to adjust the maxvalue
automatically.

``advanced...'' If Unit:advanced... is selected the window will display
two more controls for each of the five graphs. One control will be a
menu where the type of calculation can be selected from
SUM,COUNT,MAX,MIN,AVG and LOAD, and one control, textbox, where the name of a
single display filter field can be specified.

The following restrictions apply to type and field combinations:

SUM: available for all types of integers and will calculate the SUM of
all occurences of this field in the measurement interval. Note that
some field can occur multiple times in the same packet and then all
instances will be summed up. Example: 'tcp.len' which will count the
amount of payload data transferred across TCP in each interval.

COUNT: available for all field types. This will COUNT the number of times
certain field occurs in each interval. Note that some fields
may occur multiple times in each packet and if that is the case
then each instance will be counted independently and COUNT
will be greater than the number of packets.

MAX: available for all integer and relative time fields. This will calculate
the max seen integer/time value seen for the field during the interval.
Example: 'smb.time' which will plot the maximum SMB response time.

MIN: available for all integer and relative time fields. This will calculate
the min seen integer/time value seen for the field during the interval.
Example: 'smb.time' which will plot the minimum SMB response time.

AVG: available for all integer and relative time fields.This will
calculate the average seen integer/time value seen for the field during
the interval. Example: 'smb.time' which will plot the average SMB
response time.

LOAD: available only for relative time fields (response times).

Example of advanced:
Display how NFS response time MAX/MIN/AVG changes over time:

Set first graph to:

filter:nfs&&rpc.time
Calc:MAX rpc.time

Set second graph to

filter:nfs&&rpc.time
Calc:AVG rpc.time

Set third graph to

filter:nfs&&rpc.time
Calc:MIN rpc.time

Example of advanced:
Display how the average packet size from host a.b.c.d changes over time.

Set first graph to

filter:ip.addr==a.b.c.d&&frame.pkt_len
Calc:AVG frame.pkt_len

LOAD:
The LOAD io-stat type is very different from anything you have ever seen
before! While the response times themself as plotted by MIN,MAX,AVG are
indications on the Server load (which affects the Server response time),
the LOAD measurement measures the Client LOAD.
What this measures is how much workload the client generates,
i.e. how fast will the client issue new commands when the previous ones
completed.
i.e. the level of concurrency the client can maintain.
The higher the number, the more and faster is the client issuing new
commands. When the LOAD goes down, it may be due to client load making
the client slower in issuing new commands (there may be other reasons as
well, maybe the client just doesn't have any commands it wants to issue
right then).

Load is measured in concurrency/number of overlapping i/o and the value
1000 means there is a constant load of one i/o.

In each tick interval the amount of overlap is measured.
See the graph below containing three commands:
Below the graph are the LOAD values for each interval that would be calculated.

This option will open a new window that displays a list of all
conversations between two endpoints. The list has one row for each
unique conversation and displays total number of packets/bytes seen as
well as number of packets/bytes in each direction.

By default the list is sorted according to the number of packets but by
clicking on the column header; it is possible to re-sort the list in
ascending or descending order by any column.

By first selecting a conversation by clicking on it and then using the
right mouse button (on those platforms that have a right
mouse button) wireshark will display a popup menu offering several different
filter operations to apply to the capture.

These statistics windows can also be invoked from the Wireshark command
line using the -z conv argument.

Statistics:Service Response Time:DCE-RPC

Open a window to display Service Response Time statistics for an
arbitrary DCE-RPC program
interface and display Procedure, Number of Calls, Minimum SRT,
Maximum SRT and Average SRT for all procedures for that
program/version. These windows opened will update in semi-real time to
reflect changes when doing live captures or when reading new capture
files into Wireshark.

This dialog will also allow an optional filter string to be used.
If an optional filter string is used only such DCE-RPC request/response pairs
that match that filter will be used to calculate the statistics. If no filter
string is specified all request/response pairs will be used.

Statistics:Service Response Time:Fibre Channel

Open a window to display Service Response Time statistics for Fibre Channel
and display FC Type, Number of Calls, Minimum SRT,
Maximum SRT and Average SRT for all FC types.
These windows opened will update in semi-real time to
reflect changes when doing live captures or when reading new capture
files into Wireshark.
The Service Response Time is calculated as the time delta between the
First packet of the exchange and the Last packet of the exchange.

This dialog will also allow an optional filter string to be used.
If an optional filter string is used only such FC first/last exchange pairs
that match that filter will be used to calculate the statistics. If no filter
string is specified all request/response pairs will be used.

Statistics:Service Response Time:ONC-RPC

Open a window to display statistics for an arbitrary ONC-RPC program interface
and display Procedure, Number of Calls, Minimum SRT, Maximum SRT and Average SRT for all procedures for that program/version.
These windows opened will update in semi-real time to reflect changes when
doing live captures or when reading new capture files into Wireshark.

This dialog will also allow an optional filter string to be used.
If an optional filter string is used only such ONC-RPC request/response pairs
that match that filter will be used to calculate the statistics. If no filter
string is specified all request/response pairs will be used.

By first selecting a conversation by clicking on it and then using the
right mouse button (on those platforms that have a right
mouse button) wireshark will display a popup menu offering several different
filter operations to apply to the capture.

Statistics:Service Response Time:SMB

Collect call/reply SRT (Service Response Time) data for SMB. Data collected
is number of calls for each SMB command, MinSRT, MaxSRT and AvgSRT.

The data will be presented as separate tables for all normal SMB commands,
all Transaction2 commands and all NT Transaction commands.
Only those commands that are seen in the capture will have its stats
displayed.
Only the first command in a xAndX command chain will be used in the
calculation. So for common SessionSetupAndX + TreeConnectAndX chains,
only the SessionSetupAndX call will be used in the statistics.
This is a flaw that might be fixed in the future.

You can apply an optional filter string in a dialog box, before starting
the calculation. The stats will only be calculated
on those calls matching that filter.

By first selecting a conversation by clicking on it and then using the
right mouse button (on those platforms that have a right
mouse button) wireshark will display a popup menu offering several different
filter operations to apply to the capture.

Statistics:Service Response Time:MGCP

Collect requests/response SRT (Service Response Time) data for MGCP.
Data collected is number of calls for each known MGCP Type,
Minimum SRT, Maximum SRT, Average SRT, Minimum in Packet, and Maximum in Packet.
These windows opened will update in semi-real time to reflect changes when
doing live captures or when reading new capture files into Wireshark.

You can apply an optional filter string in a dialog box, before starting
the calculation. The statistics will only be calculated
on those calls matching that filter.

Statistics:Service Response Time:ITU-T H.225 RAS

Collect requests/response SRT (Service Response Time) data for ITU-T H.225 RAS.
Data collected is number of calls for each known ITU-T H.225 RAS Message Type,
Minimum SRT, Maximum SRT, Average SRT, Minimum in Packet, and Maximum in Packet.
You will also get the number of Open Requests (Unresponded Requests),
Discarded Responses (Responses without matching request) and Duplicate Messages.
These windows opened will update in semi-real time to reflect changes when
doing live captures or when reading new capture files into Wireshark.

You can apply an optional filter string in a dialog box, before starting
the calculation. The statistics will only be calculated
on those calls matching that filter.

Statistics:ITU-T H.225

Count ITU-T H.225 messages and their reasons. In the first column you get a
list of H.225 messages and H.225 message reasons, which occur in the current
capture file. The number of occurences of each message or reason will be displayed
in the second column.
This window opened will update in semi-real time to reflect changes when
doing live captures or when reading new capture files into Wireshark.

You can apply an optional filter string in a dialog box, before starting
the counter. The statistics will only be calculated
on those calls matching that filter.

Statistics:SIP

Activate a counter for SIP messages. You will get the number of occurences of each
SIP Method and of each SIP Status-Code. Additionally you also get the number of
resent SIP Messages (only for SIP over UDP).

This window opened will update in semi-real time to reflect changes when
doing live captures or when reading new capture files into Wireshark.

You can apply an optional filter string in a dialog box, before starting
the counter. The statistics will only be calculated
on those calls matching that filter.

Statistics:ONC-RPC Programs

This dialog will open a window showing aggregated RTT statistics for all
ONC-RPC Programs/versions that exist in the capture file.

Help:Contents

Some help texts.

Help:Supported Protocols

List of supported protocols and display filter protocol fields.

Help:Manual Pages

Display locally installed HTML versions of these manual pages in a web browser.

See various information about Wireshark (see About dialog below), like the
version, the folders used, the available plugins, ...

WINDOWS

Main Window

The main window contains the usual things like the menu, some toolbars, the
main area and a statusbar. The main area is split into three panes, you can
resize each pane using a ``thumb'' at the right end of each divider line.

The main window is much more flexible than before. The layout of the main
window can be customized by the Layout page in the dialog box popped
up by Edit:Preferences, the following will describe the layout with the
default settings.

Main Toolbar

Some menu items are available for quick access here. There is no way to
customize the items in the toolbar, however the toolbar can be hidden by
View:Main Toolbar.

Filter Toolbar

A display filter can be entered into the filter toolbar.
A filter for HTTP, HTTPS, and DNS traffic might look like this:

tcp.port == 80 || tcp.port == 443 || tcp.port == 53

Selecting the Filter: button lets you choose from a list of named
filters that you can optionally save. Pressing the Return or Enter
keys, or selecting the Apply button, will cause the filter to be
applied to the current list of packets. Selecting the Reset button
clears the display filter so that all packets are displayed (again).

There is no way to customize the items in the toolbar, however the toolbar
can be hidden by View:Filter Toolbar.

Packet List Pane

The top pane contains the list of network packets that you can scroll
through and select. By default, the packet number, packet timestamp,
source and destination addresses, protocol, and description are
displayed for each packet; the Columns page in the dialog box popped
up by Edit:Preferences lets you change this (although, unfortunately,
you currently have to save the preferences, and exit and restart
Wireshark, for those changes to take effect).

If you click on the heading for a column, the display will be sorted by
that column; clicking on the heading again will reverse the sort order
for that column.

An effort is made to display information as high up the protocol stack
as possible, e.g. IP addresses are displayed for IP packets, but the
MAC layer address is displayed for unknown packet types.

The right mouse button can be used to pop up a menu of operations.

The middle mouse button can be used to mark a packet.

Packet Details Pane

The middle pane contains a display of the details of the
currently-selected packet. The display shows each field and its value
in each protocol header in the stack. The right mouse button can be
used to pop up a menu of operations.

Packet Bytes Pane

The lowest pane contains a hex and ASCII dump of the actual packet data.
Selecting a field in the packet details highlights the corresponding
bytes in this section.

The right mouse button can be used to pop up a menu of operations.

Statusbar

The statusbar is divided into two parts, on the left some context dependant
things are shown, like information about the loaded file, on the right the
number of packets are displayed: P = Packets captured/loaded, D = Displayed
in packet list (after filtering), M = Marked by user.

The statusbar can be hidden by View:Statusbar.

Preferences

The Preferences dialog lets you control various personal preferences
for the behavior of Wireshark.

User Interface Preferences

The User Interface page is used to modify small aspects of the GUI to
your own personal taste:

Scrollbars

The vertical scrollbars in the three panes can be set to be either on
the left or the right.

Selection Bars

The selection bar in the packet list and packet details can have either
a ``browse'' or ``select'' behavior. If the selection bar has a ``browse''
behavior, the arrow keys will move an outline of the selection bar,
allowing you to browse the rest of the list or details without changing
the selection until you press the space bar. If the selection bar has a
``select'' behavior, the arrow keys will move the selection bar and change
the selection to the new item in the packet list or packet details.

Tree Line Style

Trees can be drawn with no lines, solid lines, or dotted lines between
items, or can be drawn with ``tab'' headings.

Tree Expander Style

The expander item that can be clicked to show or hide items under a tree
item can be omitted (note that this will prevent you from changing
whether those items are shown or hidden!), or can be drawn as squares,
triangles, or circles.

Hex Display

The highlight method in the hex dump display for the selected protocol
item can be set to use either inverse video, or bold characters.

Save Window Position

If this item is selected, the position of the main Wireshark window will
be saved when Wireshark exits, and used when Wireshark is started again.

Save Window Size

If this item is selected, the size of the main Wireshark window will
be saved when Wireshark exits, and used when Wireshark is started again.

File Open Dialog Behavior

This item allows the user to select how Wireshark handles the listing
of the ``File Open'' Dialog when opening trace files. ``Remember Last
Directory'' causes Wireshark to automatically position the dialog in the
directory of the most recently opened file, even between launches of Wireshark.
``Always Open in Directory'' allows the user to define a persistent directory
that the dialog will always default to.

Directory

Allows the user to specify a persistent File Open directory. Trailing
slashes or backslashes will automatically be added.

Layout Preferences

The Layout page lets you specify the general layout of the main window.
You can choose from six different layouts and fill the three panes with the
contents you like.

Column Preferences

The Columns page lets you specify the number, title, and format
of each column in the packet list.

The Column title entry is used to specify the title of the column
displayed at the top of the packet list. The type of data that the column
displays can be specified using the Column format option menu.
The row of buttons on the left perform the following actions:

New

Adds a new column to the list.

Delete

Deletes the currently selected list item.

Up / Down

Moves the selected list item up or down one position.

Font Preferences

The Font page lets you select the font to be used for most text.

Color Preferences

The Colors page can be used to change the color of the text
displayed in the TCP stream window and for marked packets. To change a color,
simply select an attribute from the ``Set:'' menu and use the color selector to
get the desired color. The new text colors are displayed as a sample text.

Capture Preferences

The Capture page lets you specify various parameters for capturing
live packet data; these are used the first time a capture is started.

The Interface: combo box lets you specify the interface from which to
capture packet data, or the name of a FIFO from which to get the packet
data.

The Data link type: option menu lets you, for some interfaces, select
the data link header you want to see on the packets you capture. For
example, in some OSes and with some versions of libpcap, you can choose,
on an 802.11 interface, whether the packets should appear as Ethernet
packets (with a fake Ethernet header) or as 802.11 packets.

The Limit each packet to ... bytes check box lets you set the
snapshot length to use when capturing live data; turn on the check box,
and then set the number of bytes to use as the snapshot length.

The Filter: text entry lets you set a capture filter expression to be
used when capturing.

If any of the environment variables SSH_CONNECTION, SSH_CLIENT,
REMOTEHOST, DISPLAY, or SESSIONNAME are set, Wireshark will create a
default capture filter that excludes traffic from the hosts and ports
defined in those variables.

The Capture packets in promiscuous mode check box lets you specify
whether to put the interface in promiscuous mode when capturing.

The Update list of packets in real time check box lets you specify
that the display should be updated as packets are seen.

The Automatic scrolling in live capture check box lets you specify
whether, in an ``Update list of packets in real time'' capture, the packet
list pane should automatically scroll to show the most recently captured
packets.

Printing Preferences

The radio buttons at the top of the Printing page allow you choose
between printing packets with the File:Print Packet menu item as text
or PostScript, and sending the output directly to a command or saving it
to a file. The Command: text entry box, on UNIX-compatible systems,
is the command to send files to (usually lpr), and the File: entry
box lets you enter the name of the file you wish to save to.
Additionally, you can select the File: button to browse the file
system for a particular save file.

Protocol Preferences

There are also pages for various protocols that Wireshark dissects,
controlling the way Wireshark handles those protocols.

The Capture Filter dialog lets you do all of the editing operations
listed, and also lets you choose or construct a filter to be used when
capturing packets.

The Display Filter dialog lets you do all of the editing operations
listed, and also lets you choose or construct a filter to be used to
filter the current capture being viewed.

The Read Filter dialog lets you do all of the editing operations
listed, and also lets you choose or construct a filter to be used to
as a read filter for a capture file you open.

The Search Filter dialog lets you do all of the editing operations
listed, and also lets you choose or construct a filter expression to be
used in a find operation.

In all of those dialogs, the Filter name entry specifies a
descriptive name for a filter, e.g. Web and DNS traffic. The
Filter string entry is the text that actually describes the filtering
action to take, as described above.The dialog buttons perform the
following actions:

New

If there is text in the two entry boxes, creates a new associated list
item.

Edit

Modifies the currently selected list item to match what's in the entry
boxes.

Delete

Deletes the currently selected list item.

Add Expression...

For display filter expressions, pops up a dialog box to allow you to
construct a filter expression to test a particular field; it offers
lists of field names, and, when appropriate, lists from which to select
tests to perform on the field and values with which to compare it. In
that dialog box, the OK button will cause the filter expression you
constructed to be entered into the Filter string entry at the current
cursor position.

OK

In the Capture Filter dialog, closes the dialog box and makes the
filter in the Filter string entry the filter in the Capture
Preferences dialog. In the Display Filter dialog, closes the dialog
box and makes the filter in the Filter string entry the current
display filter, and applies it to the current capture. In the Read
Filter dialog, closes the dialog box and makes the filter in the
Filter string entry the filter in the Open Capture File dialog.
In the Search Filter dialog, closes the dialog box and makes the
filter in the Filter string entry the filter in the Find Packet
dialog.

Apply

Makes the filter in the Filter string entry the current display
filter, and applies it to the current capture.

Save

If the list of filters being edited is the list of
capture filters, saves the current filter list to the personal capture
filters file, and if the list of filters being edited is the list of
display filters, saves the current filter list to the personal display
filters file.

Close

Closes the dialog without doing anything with the filter in the Filter
string entry.

The Color Filters Dialog

This dialog displays a list of color filters and allows it to be
modified.

THEFILTERLIST

Single rows may be selected by clicking. Multiple rows may be selected
by using the ctrl and shift keys in combination with the mouse button.

NEW

Adds a new filter at the bottom of the list and opens the Edit Color
Filter dialog box. You will have to alter the filter expression at
least before the filter will be accepted. The format of color filter
expressions is identical to that of display filters. The new filter is
selected, so it may immediately be moved up and down, deleted or edited.
To avoid confusion all filters are unselected before the new filter is
created.

EDIT

Opens the Edit Color Filter dialog box for the selected filter. (If this
button is disabled you may have more than one filter selected, making it
ambiguous which is to be edited.)

DELETE

Deletes the selected color filter(s).

EXPORT

Allows you to choose a file in which to save the current list of color
filters. You may also choose to save only the selected filters. A
button is provided to save the filters in the global color filters file
(you must have sufficient permissions to write this file, of course).

IMPORT

Allows you to choose a file containing color filters which are then
added to the bottom of the current list. All the added filters are
selected, so they may be moved to the correct position in the list as a
group. To avoid confusion, all filters are unselected before the new
filters are imported. A button is provided to load the filters from the
global color filters file.

Moves the selected filter(s) up the list, making it more likely that
they will be used to color packets.

DOWN

Moves the selected filter(s) down the list, making it less likely that
they will be used to color packets.

OK

Closes the dialog and uses the color filters as they stand.

APPLY

Colors the packets according to the current list of color filters, but
does not close the dialog.

SAVE

Saves the current list of color filters in your personal color filters
file. Unless you do this they will not be used the next time you start
Wireshark.

CLOSE

Closes the dialog without changing the coloration of the packets. Note
that changes you have made to the current list of color filters are not
undone.

Capture Options

The Capture Options dialog lets you specify various parameters for
capturing live packet data.

The Interface: field lets you specify the interface from which to
capture packet data or a command from which to get the packet data via a
pipe.

The Link layer header type: field lets you specify the interfaces link
layer header type. This field is usually disabled, as most interface have
only one header type.

The Capture packets in promiscuous mode check box lets you specify
whether the interface should be put into promiscuous mode when
capturing.

The Limit each packet to ... bytes check box and field lets you
specify a maximum number of bytes per packet to capture and save; if the
check box is not checked, the limit will be 65535 bytes.

The Capture Filter: entry lets you specify the capture filter using a
tcpdump-style filter string as described above.

The File: entry lets you specify the file into which captured packets
should be saved, as in the Printer Options dialog above. If not
specified, the captured packets will be saved in a temporary file; you
can save those packets to a file with the File:Save As menu item.

The Use multiple files check box lets you specify that the capture
should be done in ``multiple files'' mode. This option is disabled, if the
Update list of packets in real time option is checked.

The Next file every ... megabyte(s) check box and fields lets
you specify that a switch to a next file should be done
if the specified filesize is reached. You can also select the appriate
unit, but beware that the filesize has a maximum of 2 GB.
The check box is forced to be checked, as ``multiple files'' mode requires a
file size to be specified.

The Next file every ... minute(s) check box and fields lets
you specify that the switch to a next file should be done after the specified
time has elapsed, even if the specified capture size is not reached.

The Ring buffer with ... files field lets you specify the number
of files of a ring buffer. This feature will capture into to the first file
again, after the specified amount of files were used.

The Stop capture after ... files field lets you specify the number
of capture files used, until the capture is stopped.

The Stop capture after ... packet(s) check box and field let
you specify that Wireshark should stop capturing after having captured
some number of packets; if the check box is not checked, Wireshark will
not stop capturing at some fixed number of captured packets.

The Stop capture after ... megabyte(s) check box and field lets
you specify that Wireshark should stop capturing after the file to which
captured packets are being saved grows as large as or larger than some
specified number of megabytes. If the check box is not checked, Wireshark
will not stop capturing at some capture file size (although the operating
system on which Wireshark is running, or the available disk space, may still
limit the maximum size of a capture file). This option is disabled, if
``multiple files'' mode is used,

The Stop capture after ... second(s) check box and field let you
specify that Wireshark should stop capturing after it has been capturing
for some number of seconds; if the check box is not checked, Wireshark
will not stop capturing after some fixed time has elapsed.

The Update list of packets in real time check box lets you specify
whether the display should be updated as packets are captured and, if
you specify that, the Automatic scrolling in live capture check box
lets you specify the packet list pane should automatically scroll to
show the most recently captured packets as new packets arrive.

The Enable MAC name resolution, Enable network name resolution and
Enable transport name resolution check boxes let you specify whether
MAC addresses, network addresses, and transport-layer port numbers
should be translated to names.

About

The About dialog lets you view various information about Wireshark.

About:Wireshark

The Wireshark page lets you view general information about Wireshark,
like the installed version, licensing information and such.

About:Authors

The Authors page shows the author and all contributors.

About:Folders

The Folders page lets you view the directory names where Wireshark is
searching it's various configuration and other files.

About:Plugins

The Plugins page lets you view the dissector plugin modules
available on your system.

The Plugins List shows the name and version of each dissector plugin
module found on your system.

On Unix-compatible systems, the plugins are looked for in the following
directories: the lib/wireshark/plugins/$VERSION directory under the
main installation directory (for example,
/usr/local/lib/wireshark/plugins/$VERSION), and then
$HOME/.wireshark/plugins.

On Windows systems, the plugins are looked for in the following
directories: plugins\$VERSION directory under the main installation
directory (for example, C:\Program Files\Wireshark\plugins\$VERSION),
and then %APPDATA%\Wireshark\plugins\$VERSION (or, if %APPDATA% isn't
defined, %USERPROFILE%\Application Data\Wireshark\plugins\$VERSION).

$VERSION is the version number of the plugin interface, which
is typically the version number of Wireshark. Note that a dissector
plugin module may support more than one protocol; there is not
necessarily a one-to-one correspondence between dissector plugin modules
and protocols. Protocols supported by a dissector plugin module are
enabled and disabled using the Edit:Protocols dialog box, just as
protocols built into Wireshark are.

CAPTURE FILTER SYNTAX

DISPLAY FILTER SYNTAX

For a complete table of protocol and protocol fields that are filterable
in Wireshark see the wireshark-filter(4) manual page.

FILES

These files contains various Wireshark configuration settings.

Preferences

The preferences files contain global (system-wide) and personal
preference settings. If the system-wide preference file exists, it is
read first, overriding the default settings. If the personal preferences
file exists, it is read next, overriding any previous values. Note: If
the command line flag -o is used (possibly more than once), it will
in turn override values from the preferences files.

The preferences settings are in the form prefname:value,
one per line,
where prefname is the name of the preference
and value is the value to
which it should be set; white space is allowed between : and
value. A preference setting can be continued on subsequent lines by
indenting the continuation lines with white space. A # character
starts a comment that runs to the end of the line:

# Vertical scrollbars should be on right side?
# TRUE or FALSE (case-insensitive).
gui.scrollbar_on_right: TRUE

The global preferences file is looked for in the wireshark directory
under the share subdirectory of the main installation directory (for
example, /usr/local/share/wireshark/preferences) on UNIX-compatible
systems, and in the main installation directory (for example,
C:\Program Files\Wireshark\preferences) on Windows systems.

The personal preferences file is looked for in $HOME/.wireshark/preferences on
UNIX-compatible systems and %APPDATA%\Wireshark\preferences (or, if
%APPDATA% isn't defined, %USERPROFILE%\Application
Data\Wireshark\preferences) on Windows systems.

Note: Whenever the preferences are saved by using the Save button
in the Edit:Preferences dialog box, your personal preferences file
will be overwritten with the new settings, destroying any comments and
unknown/obsolete settings that were in the file.

Recent

The recent file contains personal settings (mostly GUI related) such
as the current Wireshark window size. The file is saved at program exit and
read in at program start automatically. Note: The command line flag -o
may be used to override settings from this file.

The settings in this file have the same format as in the preferences
files, and the same directory as for the personal preferences file is
used.

Note: Whenever Wireshark is closed, your recent file
will be overwritten with the new settings, destroying any comments and
unknown/obsolete settings that were in the file.

Disabled (Enabled) Protocols

The disabled_protos files contain system-wide and personal lists of
protocols that have been disabled, so that their dissectors are never
called. The files contain protocol names, one per line, where the
protocol name is the same name that would be used in a display filter
for the protocol:

http
tcp # a comment

If a protocol is listed in the global disabled_protos file, it is not
displayed in the Analyze:Enabled Protocols dialog box, and so cannot
be enabled by the user.

The global disabled_protos file uses the same directory as the global
preferences file.

The personal disabled_protos file uses the same directory as the
personal preferences file.

Note: Whenever the disabled protocols list is saved by using the Save
button in the Analyze:Enabled Protocols dialog box, your personal
disabled protocols file will be overwritten with the new settings,
destroying any comments that were in the file.

Name Resolution (hosts)

If the personal hosts file exists, it is
used to resolve IPv4 and IPv6 addresses before any other
attempts are made to resolve them. The file has the standard hosts
file syntax; each line contains one IP address and name, separated by
whitespace. The same directory as for the personal preferences file is used.

Name Resolution (ethers)

The ethers files are consulted to correlate 6-byte hardware addresses to
names. First the personal ethers file is tried and if an address is not
found there the global ethers file is tried next.

Each line contains one hardware address and name, separated by
whitespace. The digits of the hardware address are separated by colons
(:), dashes (-) or periods (.). The same separator character must be
used consistently in an address. The following three lines are valid
lines of an ethers file:

The global ethers file is looked for in the /etc directory on
UNIX-compatible systems, and in the main installation directory (for
example, C:\Program Files\Wireshark) on Windows systems.

The personal ethers file is looked for in the same directory as the personal
preferences file.

Name Resolution (manuf)

The manuf file is used to match the 3-byte vendor portion of a 6-byte
hardware address with the manufacturer's name; it can also contain well-known
MAC addresses and address ranges specified with a netmask. The format of the
file is the same as the ethers files, except that entries such as:

00:00:0C Cisco

can be provided, with the 3-byte OUI and the name for a vendor, and
entries such as:

00-00-0C-07-AC/40 All-HSRP-routers

can be specified, with a MAC address and a mask indicating how many bits
of the address must match. The above entry, for example, has 40
significant bits, or 5 bytes, and would match addresses from
00-00-0C-07-AC-00 through 00-00-0C-07-AC-FF. The mask need not be a
multiple of 8.

The manuf file is looked for in the same directory as the global
preferences file.

Name Resolution (ipxnets)

The ipxnets files are used to correlate 4-byte IPX network numbers to
names. First the global ipxnets file is tried and if that address is not
found there the personal one is tried next.

The format is the same as the ethers
file, except that each address is four bytes instead of six.
Additionally, the address can be represented as a single hexadecimal
number, as is more common in the IPX world, rather than four hex octets.
For example, these four lines are valid lines of an ipxnets file:

The global ipxnets file is looked for in the /etc directory on
UNIX-compatible systems, and in the main installation directory (for
example, C:\Program Files\Wireshark) on Windows systems.

The personal ipxnets file is looked for in the same directory as the
personal preferences file.

Capture Filters

The cfilters files contain system-wide and personal capture filters.
Each line contains one filter, starting with the string displayed in the
dialog box in quotation marks, followed by the filter string itself:

"HTTP" port 80
"DCERPC" port 135

The global cfilters file uses the same directory as the
global preferences file.

The personal cfilters file uses the same directory as the personal
preferences file. It is written through the Capture:Capture Filters
dialog.

If the global cfilters file exists, it is used only if the personal
cfilters file does not exist; global and personal capture filters are
not merged.

Display Filters

The dfilters files contain system-wide and personal display filters.
Each line contains one filter, starting with the string displayed in the
dialog box in quotation marks, followed by the filter string itself:

"HTTP" http
"DCERPC" dcerpc

The global dfilters file uses the same directory as the
global preferences file.

The personal dfilters file uses the same directory as the
personal preferences file. It is written through the Analyze:Display
Filters dialog.

If the global dfilters file exists, it is used only if the personal
dfilters file does not exist; global and personal display filters are
not merged.

Color Filters (Coloring Rules)

The colorfilters files contain system-wide and personal color filters.
Each line contains one filter, starting with the string displayed in the
dialog box, followed by the corresponding display filter. Then the
background and foreground colors are appended: